Sale: Triton VIII, Lot: 1088. Estimate $50000.  Closing Date: Monday, 10 January 2005.  Sold For $50000. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

AUGUSTUS. 27 BC-14 AD. AV Aureus (8.02 gm, 6h). Uncertain (Eastern?) mint. CAESAR behind head, bare head right / AVGVSTVS above, heifer, with head lowered, advancing left. RIC I 538; BMCRE 659=Bahrfeldt 137/6 (same dies); BN pg. 157 (dD/R5); cf. Kent & Hirmer 127 (same reverse die); Calicó 168; Cohen 26. EF. Of high artistic merit and very rare, the second known of this die pairing. ($50,000)

Although the entire issue can be divided into four main varieties, Giard’s analysis reveals only four obverse and five reverse dies with very close linkages. A variety of this type with the same reverse die has an obverse with a laureate head (Kent & Hirmer 127). Such evidence indicates a brief output struck for some special occasion. The presence of the laurel wreath would indicate a victory, and the inclusion of the legend AVGVSTVS dates that event shortly after 27 BC.

The attribution to a specific mint has been the subject of some controversy. The portrait style indicates Greek, rather than Roman, workmanship and, thus, several eastern mints have been suggested, including Pergamum or Apamea. Gabrici very early assigned the coin to Athens, in part based on his interpretation of the reverse as a depiction of the famous statue of Myron located in the Agora there. While Mattingly assigned the issue to Asia Minor with certainty, he suggested Samos, where Augustus was in residence during 21-20 BC. More recently, Laodicea ad Mare has also been suggested.

The reverse’s significance has been open to much speculation. Gabrici’s original interpretation of the design has been largely discounted based on the variety of poses of the heifer (cf. Sotheby’s, 8 July 1996 regarding four separate sculptures of Myron). Grant’s creative hypothesis (NC 1949, pp. 26-29) that the reverse was both an etymological pun on Victory and a mythological allusion to Agrippa’s Bosporan settlement of 14 BC lacks solid evidence. Whatever the correct interpretation, the subject remains open to discussion.